


Soft

by Jinko



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-11
Updated: 2014-04-11
Packaged: 2018-01-18 23:25:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1446769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jinko/pseuds/Jinko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carl sees in Ian and Mickey what he wants with Bonnie. Set after 4x11</p>
            </blockquote>





	Soft

Carl was a pervert. There was no denying it; there was no shame in it.

All his life, he’d been privy to sights and moments that shouldn’t have happened around a child his age but it was how he learnt and how he understood the world.

Once or twice, he’d seen something he hadn’t wanted to. He’d walked in on Monica and Frank fucking that many times before he knew what sex was that any psychiatrist would feel like they’d won the lottery. He’d seen child abuse within his own family home and he’d seen his baby brother suffer and overdose and he’d seen his mother bleeding out on their kitchen floor as she attempted suicide and he hated that he’d seen all of this, but he wasn’t ashamed of it.

Not once did Carl feel like he shouldn’t have seen what he saw. He didn’t want to see it, but they weren’t private moments that specifically weren’t for his eyes.

He was an unashamed pervert through and through.

At least, he thought he was until the first night Bonnie slept at the Gallagher house.

It was the sound of running water that had woken him up. After sharing a bedroom with his three brothers for so long, Carl had gotten used to ignoring the noises that happened at night unless it was something serious. Running water was the only exception. It woke his bladder, no matter the hour or how deep he was in his dreams, and that was why he rolled out of bed as gently as he possibly could so he wouldn’t disturb Bonnie.

The light was on in the bathroom but the door was only halfway closed. He couldn’t hear the water running anymore, so he figured that whoever was using the shower was done and was probably dressed and with that, he pushed the door open the rest of the way and paused at what he found.

Ian and Mickey were in the bathroom, covered in blood. Mickey was sitting on the edge of the bath, which was full of steaming water, and Ian was meticulously cleaning around a cut near the brunet’s nose with a wad of toilet paper.

They both jolted and looked over in Carl’s direction. The hand Mickey had under Ian’s Henley dropped, revealing the frozen packet of peas he’d been pressing to Ian’s skin.

“Sorry,” Carl grunted out and lowered his eyes to the layers of clothes that were on the floor. Jackets, scarves, gloves, beanies. Mickey’s black shirt.

“Nah, sorry if we woke you, bud,” said Ian with some difficulty. He was having trouble breathing.

“What happened?”

“Bar fight. Nothing big.”

Carl nodded his head, still keeping his eyes down. “I, uh, I gotta…I’ll go downstairs,” he stammered out and wasn’t sure why he was so embarrassed to have walked in on them tending to each other’s wounds. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t seen someone with a bloodied nose or a gashed face before.

Nonetheless, he made his way downstairs to use the bathroom and when he returned, he deliberately pulled the bathroom door shut but hesitated when he saw that Ian and Mickey had switched so Mickey was gently wiping at Ian’s injuries.

Carl hid himself at an angle that meant that he could still watch. Curiosity won over and he watched.

They were just so bloodied. There were dozens of small paper balls pink with blood in the sink and they still weren’t through. Mickey was being so careful with Ian’s face, focusing on the right side, where a small cut into his hairline had him bleeding like a typical head-wound. Carl knew that they bled like a stuck pig and that the only thing that could’ve made it worse was if it was a warm night. Thankfully, they were still in the freezing cold winter, so his brother wasn’t so bad off.

The pair spoke to each other so softly and Mickey said something to Ian at one point that had Ian laughing, then swearing as he clutched at his side and Carl’s eyes grew wide at the simple, chaste peck Mickey gave him as an apology before he continued on with his work.

Once the blood was clear, Mickey checked to see how bad the cut was and assessed if it needed stitches or not. Carl knew that Mickey Milkovich probably knew better than anyone else how bad it has to be before stitches are involved.

They were so _soft_ together.

They weren’t homely like Fiona and Jimmy or as fucked up as Lip was with Mandy and Karen. Carl suspected that they fought all the time and, sure, their sex would be crazy, but it looked like _this_ was what their relationship boiled down to.

Ian and Mickey were soft and caring and treated each other so gently when they needed it. Beneath everything, their refusal to use the term ‘boyfriend’ and how Ian danced around the word ‘love’; underneath the rough toughness of Mickey and the erratic behaviour of Ian, they had _this_.

It was what Carl wanted in his life with Bonnie.

Mickey whipped off his shirt as Ian checked the water temperature in the bath before letting Mickey help him pull his Henley over his head, hissing with the movement in his right side. Carl winced in sympathy when he saw the purple bruise that had blossomed right under the tattoo Ian had come home with. It had to be the side of a fist but he wasn’t sure if that’s what it came from.

They moved quickly then, thankfully, as they stripped off their remaining clothes to get into the bath. Mickey stepped in first with his back against the far edge of the tub and gently eased Ian down with him so the taller man was resting with his back against Mickey’s chest.

Their words were still so soft that Carl couldn’t hear them. He could see their lips moving as they spoke but he couldn’t understand a word of what was being whispered between them and he was thankful that he couldn’t.

It was bad enough that he was spying on their moment together. There was no need for him to hear what sweet nothings they were whispering to each other. Even if they weren’t sweet nothings, the moment was still far too intimate for Carl to have completely with them.

Mickey picked up the washcloth and used it to scrub away at the blood crusted on Ian’s knuckles. Ian just seemed to melt back into him, letting his lover do whatever he wanted to do and Carl could see why.

There wasn’t even anything sexual happening in that bath, yet they both looked so content just to share that space with each other.

After what Bonnie had told him about how she didn’t like sex, Carl was beginning to see how someone could be happy with another person without that being an aspect of it.

All his life, he’d seen that sex was essential in every relationship he’d been witness to. He was pretty sure Lip’s relationships with Karen and Mandy (and now even this Amanda chick) were all based on sex and if he hadn’t seen this with Ian and Mickey, he’d have been certain that was the same for the two in the tub. And when Bonnie had said what she said, he’d held on to her because he wasn’t sure what else to do. He wasn’t sure what else a relationship could need.

A relationship needed people who care for each other and liking the way someone smelt was a good indication of love.

When Mickey finished with Ian’s other hand, Ian wrapped his fingers around Mickey’s and dragged the tattooed digits to his mouth, just to press a kiss to Mickey’s skin, and Mickey wrapped his free arm around Ian’s shoulders and held on. They were silent as they soaked in the other, enjoying being together and the soothing heat of the water around their battered bodies.

Carl wasn’t sure when he dozed off but he jolted awake when he felt a hand on his shoulder shake him. Mickey, now only in a pair of boxer shorts, was crouching in front of him, waking him, where he was curled against the wall.

“Hey,” Mickey grunted and Carl flushed with shame. “You watching me and your brother or something?”

When Carl couldn’t answer, Mickey gently pulled him up. Ian was leaning against the opposite wall, only in his underwear too, favouring his right side. The peas he’d been holding against the purpled bruise were gone.

“Up to bed with you,” Mickey continued and started to steer Carl towards the boys’ bedroom.

“Fiona’s,” Carl objected softly. “I’m in Fiona’s bed tonight. With Bonnie.”

“Your girlfriend?” Ian asked and Mickey sighed.

“Come on,” Mickey huffed and just about hefted Carl under his arm to carry him into the room down the hall.

Bonnie was sleeping on her side when Mickey helped Carl onto the bed and when Mickey moved to leave, Carl reached out and wrapped a hand around his wrist.

“Do you like how Ian smells?” Carl asked softly and Mickey halted.

He thought on it for a moment before he nodded his head once. “Yeah, kid.”

When he was gone, Carl rolled over closer to Bonnie but not so close that he’d wake her and he knew that was exactly what he wanted with his first love.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Tumblr](http://jinkohamilton.tumblr.com)


End file.
